English

CMOS-integrated superparamagnetic tunnel junction-based p-bit

Emerging Technologies 2026-04-17 v1

Abstract

Probabilistic computers offer promising solutions for computationally hard problems in domains such as combinatorial optimization and machine learning. A key building block in these systems is the probabilistic bit (p-bit), which relies on superparamagnetic tunnel junctions (sMTJs) as its source of randomness. A challenging threshold to cross for scaling sMTJ-based p-bit systems is integration of sMTJs with CMOS technology. In this work, we present experimental results of a p-bit unit cell using sMTJs integrated with 130 nm CMOS technology and demonstrate that the sMTJ's resistance fluctuations can generate a corresponding fluctuating digital output voltage which is tunable via the input voltage. These findings establish the feasibility of CMOS-compatible, sMTJ-based probabilistic circuits and mark a key step toward scalable hardware for real-world probabilistic computing applications.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.14446,
  title  = {CMOS-integrated superparamagnetic tunnel junction-based p-bit},
  author = {Ju-Young Yoon and Nuno Cacoilo and Advait Madhavan and Jabez J. McClelland and Shun Kanai and Hideo Ohno and Shunsuke Fukami and William A. Borders},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.14446},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:11:43.920Z